Former New York Giants Jessie Armstead and Jeff Feagles hosted a Q&A and discussed Big Blue’s offseason at Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
Former New York Giants (and University of Miami Hurricanes) Jeff Feagles and Jessie Armstead recently hosted a Q&A media event at Quest Diagnostics Training Center, presented by Modell’s Sporting Goods.
Feagles, a former punter and Super Bowl champion in 2007 with Big Blue, played 22 years in the NFL and is now currently a member of the Giants’ Game Day Broadcast Team and provides analysis on the Fox Giants Post Game Live show.
Meanwhile, Armstead played for 12 years, was a four-time All-Pro linebacker, and is a member of the Giants’ Ring of Honor. He has been a special assistant/consultant with the Giants’ coaching staff since 2008.
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The players broke down New York’s offseason free agent acquisitions, departures, and 2016 NFL Draft haul.
Here are my takeaways on what the pair had to say:
1. Prince Amukamara ‘Had to go’
This offseason former starting cornerback Prince Amukamara bolted to join the Jacksonville Jaguars, following the signing of Janoris Jenkins by New York. Amukamara signed a one year, six million dollar deal with the Jags, only three million of which was guaranteed. It seemed a bit odd that a player who can preform at a near Pro Bowl caliber level when healthy couldn’t get a similar offer from his former team, despite the Jenkins signing.
Well according to Armstead, Prince “had to go.” What that meant exactly was unclear, but Armstead did go on to site that Jenkins being a better man coverage corner than Amukamara as one of the reasons the team moved on former Nebraska Cornhusker.
However, neither Armstead nor Feagles sad anything else about any of the other offseason departures. Will Beatty, Geoff Schwartz, Robert Ayers, and Rueben Randle all started games for Big Blue over the past couple of years, but none of them were spoken about as needing to have been ridden of, let alone metioned at all.
It begs the question, was there something more going on with Amukamara behind the scenes? It would come as a shock, seeing as the one time Super Bowl Champion always carried himself like a true professional during his tenure in New York.
Sure, it could be the Giants just flat-out did not like Amukamara as a player and saw no value in bringing him back. He performed way below his typical standard after returning from injury during the second half of the 2015 season.
Yet, Armstead did touch upon the departure of former head coach Tom Coughlin, a man many would say definitely fell short often last season, but never said he “had to go.” He instead offered his deepest respects to the Giants’ former head man, saying nothing negative of Coughlin.
2. Ben McAdoo has made his mark to MetLife
Coach Armstead noted that new head man Ben McAdoo has brought a new “buzz” to Met Life Stadium and the adjacent Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
McAdoo has placed large plaques of the team photos every one of New York’s title-winning teams along the left wall in the Giants’ meeting and film room. The 1986, 1990, 2007, and 2011 squads hang next to the pre AFL-NFL merger era 1927, 1934, 1938 and 1956 championship teams for all Big Blue members to see.
At the end of the wall McAdoo has left a blank space void of a team photo. The message: it’s reserved for the 2016 Super Bowl champions.
3. Jeff Feagles expects Marshall Newhouse to start at RT in 2016
All the beautiful imagery of Lombardi trophies coming home to New York that Coach McAdoo instilled in all of you with his poetic championship team photo motivational tactic just came crashing back down to earth a little bit after that last headline I’m sure.
Not to fret though, because it does not sound like 2015 Marshall Newhouse will be the same guy as 2016 Marshall Newhouse (hopefully).
“I believe the starter will be Newhouse,” said Feagles after I asked him who he believed would step in at right tackle next season. “He knows people don’t like him, and that’s only motivated him to work harder.”
Now, it is also entirely possible that next season’s starting right tackle has yet to be added to the roster. It’s no secret that training camp can be filled with surprise cuts, one of which may be a viable offensive lineman that the Giants pounce on to plug into their starting lineup.
But if Big Blue does choose to roll into the upcoming season with Newhouse as their starter, fans can rest a little easier knowing he is indeed hard at work, preparing as if the starting job is his to lose.
4. Jessie Armstead has one of the best Lawrence Taylor stories ever
Lawrence Taylor is one of the most dominant and feared players ever to take an NFL field. His devastating hit on Washington Redskins’ quarterback Joe Theisman is one of the main reasons clubs shell out big bucks these days for linemen to protect their franchise arms.
So the idea that someone told L.T. to “shut up” is more than surprising to say the least.
A young Jessie Armstead made that grave error as a rookie all the way back in 1993. Fresh out of college, an excited Armstead rushed to huddle after being entrusted to call the defensive play. Apparently, Taylor was talking when he entered the huddle and without thinking Armstead told Taylor to shut up before calling the play to the rest of defense.
Predictably, Taylor did not take to kindly to being told to shut up by a rookie. With the opposing team approaching the line of scrimmage, the future Hall of Famer kept the defense in the huddle to chew out Armstead, telling him he could not speak in the huddle anymore.
After not being able to speak and do his job calling the plays, Armstead returned to the sidelines after the team’s defensive series to be chewed out again, this time by New York’s the defensive coordinator Mike Nolan.
When Armstead explained that L.T. had forbidden him from speaking in the huddle and Nolan should talk to Taylor, Nolan refused and informed him that he would have to speak with the team’s star himself about the issue.
Taylor and Armstead smoothed things out on the sidelines during that game, but Armstead learned a valuable “welcome to the NFL rookie” lesson through L.T.